Project Details

The Design Challenge

Aqueduct Medical is a leading producer of cooling system therapy
devices for post-operative care for facial plastic surgery. Their cooling
system circulates cooled water through their patented masques and
vests to reduce pain, swelling, bruising, and downtime for patients in a
safe and controlled manner.

These devices must be portable, light, easy to use, and affordable while
keeping their cooling and operating temperatures at very specific levels
for patient comfort and safety.

While creating the prototype for their device, Aqueduct Medical
sought the expertise of Aavid, Thermal division of Boyd Corporation, to
aid in designing and optimizing the heat dissipation assembly.

The prototype had very specific design constraints such as to be easy to
use and be unobtrusive in a patient’s home. It also had to be affordable
while maintaining proper temperatures to deliver the maximum
therapeutic use.

Noise, weight, power consumption, and cost all needed to be kept
carefully regimented as well as temperature. The industrial design also
had to conform well to how the prototype worked and operated.

The Aavid Solution

Aavid engineered and optimized the heat dissipation assembly for
prototyping. The cooling solution was designed with thermoelectric
modules placed on a cold plate and an active cooling consisting of heat
sinks and a fan while complying with the design constraints of:

-Tap water, Distilled water, or Saline.
-Target flow rate < 0.8lpm to enter a liquid cold plate
-Liquid enters the cold plate at a maximum of 7℃
-60W must be removed from the liquid entering the cold plate

During the design and optimization process, the cost for a mass
production version of the cooling solution (heat sink, cold plates) were
estimated.

Aavid managed to keep the cost close to the targeted price, the
acoustics below the target, and provide a simple, effective and
compact cooling solution.

Today Aqueduct Medical’s AqueCool Controlled Cooling System™ is the
most advanced post-operative recovery system available to plastic
surgical patients and is sold world-wide. Patients find that their
discomfort and downtime after surgery is significantly decreased thanks
to these systems.